Toronto homicide clearance rates way up

There are 18 faces smiling at the camera.

They are the class of 2020, murdered without resolution, unsolved, cold.

On Thursday at around 9 a.m., another once-alive smiling face was added to the board when a 27-year-old North York father was shot to death in a shocking drive-by shooting.

His newborn baby and a female companion saw it unfold. The couple were taking the baby to the hospital.

Right now, the specifics of homicide No. 0562020 are vague.

With an endless stream of murders and shooting incidents that are vaporizing boundaries of geography and morality, it would be easy to despair.

As of Thursday morning, there have been 56 homicides in the city and an infinite amount of gunplay.

It doesn’t look like it, but the bad guys are getting caged.

Police services around North America have despaired for at least a decade on the dropping clearance rate for homicides. Chicago’s unit, once one of the best in the world, struggles to hit 50%.

Toronto has also struggled in recent years with closing cases. Despite the gunplay, TPS is achieving a better than 70% clearance for murders in 2020.

Homicide chieftain Insp. Hank Idsinga told the Toronto Sun people are “tired” of the endless gunplay and more are co-operating with police.

“The reason? The best investigators that the Toronto Police Service has developed, coupled with a community which is tired of the shootings and are standing up with tips and evidence for us,” Idsinga said.

“We’re at 55 murders so far this year, with 39 of them solved.”

Idsinga said that makes for a 70.9% clearance rate.

But the veteran detective, who has investigated some of the city’s most explosive murders, said he expects more arrests for the roster of 2020 slayings.

In the homicide business, things can change quickly. There could be another spike that stretches investigative resources to the breaking point.

“It’s hard to comment on it at a specific time, because of course it always goes up,” Idsinga said.

“I won’t put the cart before the horse on the 70.9%, though. As I recall, at this time last year, we were essentially in the same situation, and then had a run of cases which pulled the solve rate down through the last quarter of the year.”

For 2019, the clearance rate stands at 63.29% and Idsinga said that too will increase.

Another marker is increased success in solving gun-related murders, which sits at around 55%.

“The homicide investigators are doing a phenomenal job. These are all very tough to solve,” he said.

But apparently not impossible. Toronto may be alone among big North American cities where stats are trending in the right direction.

There will be many more tears and heartbroken families. Cries of outrage and disgust will ring out from Scarborough to Etobicoke.

Yet quietly, without fanfare, this city’s homicide detectives are getting the job done.

On a warm March day in New York City in the late 1990s, I attended the Big Apple’s famed St. Patrick’s Day parade with about a million other people.

The city had reached its homicide zenith in 1992 with around 2,300 murders. Then the cops started turning things around.

When your streets are safe, more people come out, spend money, have fun. In New York at that time, the city felt alive again.

And on that St. Paddy’s Day in the Big Apple, thousands of NYPD officers marched, many of them Irish.

Dozens of women went over the barricades — not to protest, and not to scream in the cops’ faces.

No, they were giving them kisses in gratitude for giving them their city back.
It would be nice to see that here.
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Victim in North York drive-by shooting identified as Hamid Zakarie 27

Police have now identified the victim in a drive-by shooting in North York early Thursday morning as Hamid Zakarie.

The Toronto police homicide unit  is now investigating after Zakarie, 27, was shot dead on his way to the hospital along with a female companion and newborn baby.

Insp. Paul Rinkoff told reporters a man, a woman, and their newborn child were walking to a parked vehicle near Jane Street and Lawrence Avenue West shortly after 9 a.m. when a vehicle pulled up and two suspects opened fire.

Rinkoff said paramedics tried to treat the victim but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police confirmed that the woman and child were not injured and described the suspect vehicle as a four-door sedan last seen heading eastbound.

Investigators are asking anyone with information to contact police at 416-808-2222 or Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS.

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20-year-old man dead after being struck by truck at Keele St and Sheppard Ave

A 20-year-old man has died after being struck by a truck in a gas station parking lot near Keele Street and Sheppard Avenue West, police say.

Const. David Hopkinson said police received a call just before 2:30 p.m. for a man who was pinned underneath a vehicle.

He was initially described as having very serious injuries.

Police later confirmed the victim was without vital signs and when paramedics arrived, the 20-year-old was pronounced dead.

One lane going westbound on Sheppard Avenue is closed.

Police are treating the incident as a workplace injury because it happened on private property. As such, the Ministry of Labour has taken over the investigation. 

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One dead after triple shooting in Toronto's Downsview neighbourhood

One man is dead and two others have been transported to hospital in serious condition following a triple shooting in Downsview early this morning.

Police and paramedics were called to an apartment building on Skipton Court, in the area of Keele Street and Sheppard Avenue, at around 5:15 a.m. for reports of a shooting.

Police say three men were found suffering from gunshot wounds in a first-floor unit.

One man was pronounced dead at the scene and the two other victims were transported to hospital for treatment.

Their injuries are believed to be serious, paramedics say.

"We are investigating the relationship of the three men currently," Insp. Paul Rinkoff said at the scene on Saturday morning.

"We believe that it's likely that at least one of the individuals resides in the unit."

Investigators say they believe two suspects were somehow able to gain access to the building and then fled the area in a dark coloured SUV following the shooting.

"We don't have a motive at present," Rinkoff said.

"We suspect that these suspects weren't invited into the unit. And of course that will form part of the investigation. The homicide unit will follow up and conduct further investigation, speak with witnesses."

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Mother charged after son's deadly fall from Driftwood Ave apartment

A mother has been charged with the death of her two-year-old son who fell from their 14th floor apartment near Driftwood Ave. and Yorkwoods Gate area in late July.

Toronto Police were called to the building around 5 p.m. on July 28 after residents called 911.

Investigators allege the boy’s mother, 31, left the apartment for unknown reasons, leaving him alone.

While she was away, the tot fell from the window.

“The Toronto Police Service is not publishing/confirming the name of the woman or the boy in this incident,” said Const. Caroline de Kloet.

“While we appreciate the compelling public interest in this case, our priority is to protect the privacy of the child and, as a result, no information that may lead to his identity will be released.”

The boy was rushed to the hospital, where he later died.

The BOOST Child and Youth Advocacy Centre (CYAC,) comprised of specialized child abuse investigators from Toronto Police and children services organizations, took over this investigation, police said.

The woman surrendered to police on Thursday.

She was charged with causing death by criminal negligence and parent/spouse not providing necessaries of life-endanger.

She is scheduled to appear at 1000 Finch Ave. W. court on Nov. 5.

It was previously reported that it wasn’t clear how long the boy was on the ground before being spotted.

Police said the boy’s mother was with him in hospital when he died.

A witness, who didn’t give her name, said she saw the boy’s mother arrive at the scene “carrying food bags.”

“I saw her arriving, she was in tears. She ran to the ambulance,” the woman said.

Another resident, Jay Benoit, said the windows in the building were replaced last year and were supposed to be childproof.

In March, a five-year-old girl was seriously injured after falling 12 storeys from her apartment balcony at 2900 Jane St.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-2922, or Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS.

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Toronto police say a 27-year-old man was killed in an apparent drive-by shooting as he approached his car

Toronto police say a 27-year-old man was killed in an apparent drive-by shooting Thursday morning as he approached his car with his partner and newborn child.

The woman and child were not injured in the gunfire.

The daylight shooting took place around 9:17 a.m. in the area of Lawrence Avenue West and Jane Street, police said.

Paramedics attempted to treat the victim on arrival but he was pronounced dead on the scene, Insp. Paul Rinkoff said.

Officers are now searching for a four-door sedan with two men inside, last seen heading east.

A forensics team is poring over the crime scene. Rinkoff told reporters multiple shots were fired.

Rinkoff wouldn't rule out the possibility that the man who was killed returned fire at some point.

Rinkoff called the shooting "brazen" and "horrific," and said it took place as other parents were taking their kids to school or going to work.

Three schools in the area were placed under lockdown while officers examined the scene, police said, but have since reopened.

Rinkoff said the homicide unit is investigating the shooting.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-2222 or Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS.

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